Recently, many people have been writing my office with concerns about the diploma exams that were written at the end of January 2010. I asked the department to thoroughly investigate each of the issues that were raised. The diploma exam program in its present form is a significant milestone in students' formal education. These tests are designed to be exit exams that assess students' knowledge of the Alberta programs of study. Like the courses...

Mr. Bhullar: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Many of the world's leading educational thinkers believe that education systems around North America are systematically draining creativity out of our children by focusing on standardized curriculum, standardized instruction, and standardized testing. To the Minister of Education: what is your department doing to ensure our system is developing and building upon the natural ability and passion of our students? Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A...

Mr. Allred: Mr. Speaker, one of the best ways to enhance Alberta's competitiveness is to maintain our world-leading standing in education. Other countries recognize the extraordinary importance that education will play in their economic future, and their students are leaping ahead of Alberta students. I was pleased the other evening to go to hear an educational consultant from Finland speak in St. Albert. To the Minister of Education. Finland has what is, very simply,...

[Note: see the October 5 entry "Examining Change – Changing Exams" for more information on the change to the exam format. The revised exam schedule that moves chemistry and math to different days is available here.] Mrs. McQueen: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Education announced that the grade 12 diploma exams in math and science will no longer include a written response but will only include multiple choice numeric responses. Given that...

Since announcing changes to the Math and Science diploma exams (and in fact even before), there has been a wide damnation and derision from the public media and significant concern expressed by the ATA, some teachers and students. Interestingly, the e-mails I get from students tend to be in class or school groups. There is also a significant size Facebook group which I will visit regularly. As well there is some discussion on our...

Manitoba's Ministry of Education, Citizenship and Youth has an interesting page about the province's Grade 3 testing program, the Grade 3 Assessment in Reading, Lecture and Numeracy. What other provinces and states offer useful lessons about assessment?...

The debate and vote in the Legislative Assembly on Monday brought to the floor of the Assembly a discussion on a very significant issue for education in Alberta, as we constantly strive to understand how students learn and provide the best possible opportunity for all students to be successful.  (March 16 — text of my comments published here; the full debate is in Hansard; or you can watch the video.)...

On March 16, the Legislative Assembly debated Motion 503, which read, "Be it resolved that the Legislative Assembly urge the government to eliminate provincial achievement tests for grade 3 students and consider alternative assessments for learning." You can read the full transcript of the debate on Motion 503 (the debate starts on page 416, which is page 30 of the 44 page PDF file). Minister Hancock spoke to the Motion during the debate, and...